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The floor plans for residential spaces have been evolving for decades, changing to reflect changes in social patterns and how families use the social spaces in their homes.

In the 1950’s the kitchen was a small room focused on the function of meal preparation, tucked into a corner of the home and hidden from the social eye; homes in the 50’s and 60’s were built to reflect that. By the 90’s, the kitchen had become a stronger social focus, and entertaining in the kitchen area for informal occasions became a social norm. Homes built since then reflect that trend, with the creation of “great rooms” that incorporate both the kitchen and a grand family room.

One fact that home plans have not yet incorporated is the fact that the “formal” dining room is an outdated concept. Most families use their dining room for holidays and special occasions, and eat in the kitchen for nearly every meal. Add this to the trend of offering counter seating in the kitchen and you have an odd phenomenon: either you have only counter seating in your kitchen, and eat most meals there, or you have counter seating plus tables in both the kitchen and the dining room, therefore devoting a large portion of your livable space to dining.

A common solution to this problem is to expand the great room to include the formal dining space as well. The end result is a room that includes the kitchen, with counter seating for informal or mid-day meals, living space in the family room, and a “semi-formal” dining space for both family dinners and larger occasions. This floor plan works both for everyday use and for entertaining, and updates the allocation of space in the home to reflect current living patterns and entertaining styles.

One danger, though, in incorporating the formal dining room into the great room is the loss of a “dining room” altogether: what was the formal dining room may have become an eat-in space for the kitchen. To truly create a “semi-formal” dining room that is still suitable for holidays and special occasions, architectural elements must be artfully used to define the dining space while still maintaining both an open floor plan and a relationship between the dining space and the rest of the great room.

When executed well, the “semi-formal” dining room is an excellent adaption of an outdated floor plan to today’s lifestyle.